Angry gig goers call for refunds after ‘shambolic’ Finsbury Park gigs

A petition has now been set up for refunds after fan reports of overcrowding, long queues and poor sound quality

Music fans who attended gigs at Finsbury Park at the weekend are continuing their call for refunds after reporting ‘shambolic’ organisation.

According to fans at both Liam Gallagher and Queens of The Stone Age’s gigs on June 29 and July 1 respectively, there were a host of organisational issues including long queues for bars and toilets, overcrowding and poor sound quality.

Many reported feeling unsafe in “way too overcrowded” areas, others said they missed entire sets whilst trying to get drinks on two of the hottest days of the year.

@FRfestivals How do I go about getting a refund for Friday’s monstrosity at Finsbury Park? The worst event I’ve ever been to – and that’s no fault of @liamgallagher . The organisation from your company was just terrible, and the sound system was nonexistent. You’re conning people pic.twitter.com/xNyi1xjpsg

@seetickets I purchased tickets for #qotsa at #Finsburypark and would like to know how to get a refund. Absolutely shambolic organisation from @FRfestivals meant I barely saw or heard anything. The queues were ludicrous and the crowds were dangerous and something needs to be done

QUOTSA at finsbury park run by @FRfestivals was the worst run festival I’ve seen in years. People taking over an hour for drinks, massive bottlenecks to access toilets and water. They should give refunds

Qotsa gig in Finsbury Park is literally the worst gig I’ve ever been to. Security was horrendous, queues for the bar and toilets spanned the entire venue, way too overcrowded. Fucking horrible. Left before they even came on. @FRfestivals you are the absolute worst. Money back pls

Now, a petition has been set up demanding that MD of Festival Rebublic, Melvin Benn, issues refunds to people who attended the events.

Seena Shah who set up the petition described the gigs as “a terrible and frightening experience.”

She said: “This petition is for anyone who attended the Liam Gallagher or Queen of the Stone Ages Concerts in Finsbury Park on 29 or 30 June, who would have found queues that were far beyond acceptable for the bars, water fountains, and toilets; overcrowding and dangerous crowd management; extremely poor sound quality.”

“Festival Republic are the organisers of these concerts and are ultimately responsible for ensuring the concerts deliver what was advertised, attendees’ safety and welfare. However, it was clear that the organisers had not properly prepared for the amount of people who attended resulting in a series of highly concerning issues.”

Shah went on to describe how attendees “were subjected to hours” of queuing to get to the bars or water fountains. She also added that “the toilet facilities were insufficient and again commanded excessive queues.”

@FRfestivals@qotsa#FinsburyPark FR festivals. Shame on you with the organisation of your shambolic festival today. Please supply me with your email address so that I can make a formal complaint. @qotsa I strongly suggest you do not use this company for future gigs.

Hey @FRfestivals , well done today, you made people queue up for two hours in the heat to get a beer, water, toilets… basically anything. The most shambolic ‘organisation’ of an event I’ve ever seen. Will not be coming near you guys ever again. #FinsburyPark

Shah aimed further criticism at the sound and the exit procedures, describing the latter as “dangerous.”

“The only (very small) exit that you planned to channel all crowds through was clearly not appropriate and this proved true with crowd control issues, trampling, just overall dangerous crowd management.”

“These concerts were dangerous, wholly inadequate and issues still have not been addressed. We demand a refund in compensation for such a terrible and frightening experience.”

Yesterday, Festival Republic responded to the complains via Twitter. They wrote: “Fans on Friday and Saturday deserved a better bar service” before adding a statement from the Workers Beer Company.

“As a consequence people had to wait an unnecessarily long time to be served.” They added: “For this we unreservedly apologise.”

However, this created more anger with fans, with many of those there accusing Festival Republic of failing to take responsibility for poor organisation.

“Ahh.. so the Workers Beer Company were to blame for the overcrowding, the queues for water on a blistering hot day, the obviously too small exit to leave the park by…” one Twitter user wrote. “Stop trying to pass the buck and release a proper apology.”

Fans on Friday and Saturday deserved a better bar service. In light of this, Workers Beer Company have issued the following statement. https://t.co/Zf6sFDJJak

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